Public utilities provide electric, gas, water or telephone service to customers in a specified area. Utilities have a duty to provide safe and adequate service on reasonable terms to anyone who lives within the service area on without discriminating between customers. Because most utilities operate in near monopolistic conditions, they can be heavily regulated by local, state, and federal authorities. Generally, the local and state agencies are called Public Service Commissions (PSC) or Public Utility Commissions (PUC). Municipal Utilities and Rural Electric Cooperatives may be unregulated though.
Cliffside Park is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 23,007. Cliffside Park was formed based on the results of a referendum held on January 15, 1895, from portions of Ridgefield Township at the start of the second year of the Boroughitis phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County. U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg currently resides in the borough. Cliffside Park was also home to the former Palisades Amusement Park.